Asia Is The New Hot Destination For Luxury Travel
During cherry blossom season this spring, travel agency Remote Lands took a family of six on a monthlong trip to Japan that included private helicopter rides, VIP tickets to a sumo wrestling tournament, a private tea ceremony led by a renowned master and meetings with top textile and lacquerware artists.
The price: $500,000. “Before, it was bragging rights for Americans to say, ‘Oh, I went to Europe to ski in Val d’Isère,’” says Catherine Heald, founder of the New York agency specializing in bespoke luxury vacations. “Now the bragging rights go for skiing in Japan or to charter a deluxe yacht trip in Thailand.”
Heald’s business is booming as wealthy travelers vacation with a vengeance following the pandemic. A cornerstone of that rebound is the newfound cachet of Asia, where a slew of pricey hotels and resorts have opened in recent years to serve flush travelers. And once on the ground, they’ll find a growing range of activities such as sailing trips with private dive guides in Indonesia and train excursions with spas and fine dining across Singapore and Malaysia.
Luxury travel in Asia—worth about $271 billion in 2023—accounts for a fifth of the global luxe tourism market, with growth expected to clock almost 9% annually through the end of the decade, according to analytics firm Grand View Research. Premium air bookings from North America to Asia have risen 15% this year from 2019, researcher ForwardKeys says.
Asians are splurging, too: China’s biggest online travel agency, Trip.com, saw demand for premium tours more than double in the first four months of 2024 from the same period a year earlier. And 68% of high-net-worth consumers in Asia Pacific expect to spend more on leisure travel in the next year, with nearly three-fourths planning a holiday in the region, a survey by Marriott International’s luxury group found. Alaia Zhou, a 29-year-old freelancer from Shanghai, took a five-night trip to Tokyo with a friend last winter that cost more than $20,000. “I see more of these trips in the future,” she says.
Remote Lands’ multiweek trips to Asia typically top $100,000 for a couple—about 40% more than in 2019. And a 15-day journey through Nepal, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka by custom-outfitted Airbus business jet—at a cost of $109,000 per person—is sold out and has a waitlist. “Demand is over the roof,” Heald says.
Red Savannah, a UK agency specializing in premium journeys to Asia, offers private charters on phinisi, traditional Indonesian wood boats. For $29,000 a night, a phinisi will take a group of up to 14 people on a cruise from Bali to Raja Ampat, an archipelago of hundreds of islands whose crystal-clear waters make it one of the world’s best diving spots. The boat’s 19 crew members include diving instructors, chefs and spa therapists. The company says demand for its Asian getaways is up 20% from last year and has doubled since 2019.
Asian hoteliers have under construction more than 3,600 projects totaling 700,000 rooms, a record level, and about 15% of that is geared toward the luxury market, according to researcher Lodging Econometrics. In Europe, by contrast, fewer than 800 projects, with 117,000 rooms, are being built. “Luxury travelers want to experience something different,” says Shannon Knapp, chief executive officer of the Leading Hotels of the World, a collection of independent high-end hotels. “Asia offers a diversity of experiences—beach, mountains, cities and great food and culture.”
Thailand is seeing an increase in visitors as the country has eased its visa policies, aiming to more than double foreign arrivals, to nearly 36 million, this year from 2023. And tour operators are anticipating a surge in interest from the third season of HBO’s resort satire The White Lotus, which is likely to air sometime next year. “We’re waiting for Thailand to go crazy because everyone knows as soon as White Lotus comes out, you won’t be able to get in,” says Misty Belles of Virtuoso, a consortium of luxury advisers.
In Japan, the concept of the ryokan—typically family-owned hot spring inns offering set meals, futons on tatami-mat floors and little in the way of concessions to foreigners—is getting an upgrade. Growing numbers of high-end ryokans now offer five-star service including à la carte fine dining, Western-style beds, private baths and a front desk staffed with English speakers. Starting in 2026, Hyatt Hotels Corp. will open three plush ryokans in more remote locations such as Hakone, a two-hour train ride from Tokyo, charging up to $1,300 a night. Aman Resorts opened a Janu hotel in central Tokyo this spring with rooms that average $1,400 a night. And trading house Sumitomo Corp. plans to invest 50 billion yen ($310 million) in its lodging business, including a luxury hotel in Tokyo’s upmarket Ginza shopping district.
In Shenzhen, the Chinese city just north of Hong Kong, Shangri-La Group opened its 91st property under its signature brand this year, as well as a Jen hotel in the western city of Kunming. And 40% of the hotels run by Hilton Luxury Brands—which includes the Waldorf Astoria, LXR and Conrad names—are in Asia Pacific. The company expects to double its offerings there by 2029, with new locations in China, Japan and Malaysia. “We’ve fully resumed the upward trajectory in travel and tourism and left the pandemic further behind us,” says Dino Michael, the company’s head of luxury brands.
“Understanding that the average age for luxury consumers in Asia Pacific is younger than in other parts of the world, we are expanding our luxury portfolio for the future.”